Wheelspin – Winter 2025/26
In this issue….
- Notes from the Chair
- 2025 Awards
- Rennat Racewear Partnership
- EcoRally Scotland
- Historic Modsports & Special Saloons
- 2026 Calendar
- Membership Renewals
- Drivers’ Survey Results
- 2025 Season Review
Notes from the Chair
Dear SMRC Member, welcome to this edition of Wheelspin which contains important information relating to
our 2026 Scottish Motor Racing season which will see us in action at 8 racing circuits participating in 16
different race meetings. I personally cannot wait for our season to start in April 2026 though I want to take
this opportunity to wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the very best for the 2026
season.
Nic Boyes, Chairman.
2025 Awards
Club Members, Champions, Family & Friends and Special Guests donned their finest dinner suits and ball gowns and assembled at Glenbervie House in Stirlingshire on Saturday 22nd November 2025 for the Scottish Motor Racing Club’s annual awards ceremony, hosted by Knockhill Commentator, Robert Johnson.
Event Organiser and SMRC Chief Marshal Alan Barron introduced proceedings with a welcome video from Club Chairman Nic Boyes, before guests enjoyed a delicious three course meal.
Following dinner, guests heard from Joe Tanner, founder of Rennat Racewear and Ian Smith & Charlotte Mackenzie from Motorsport UK. Joe was delighted to announce a new partnership with the SMRC whilst Ian & Charlotte reviewed the EcoRally Scotland event and outlined plans for 2026.
Our Champions then had their moment of glory collecting their hard fought silverware together with the presentation for the Club’s subjective awards.
Please click here to read the full review of the Awards Evening;
https://www.smrc.co.uk/news/2025-awards-dinner/
Rennat Racewear Partnership
We are delighted to have partnered with Joe Tanner and his team at Rennat Racewear whereby all Club Members will receive for a 10% discount on all items purchased in Rennat Racewear’s new purpose built showroom located in the Paddock at Knockhill Racing Circuit. Rennat Racewear is Scotland’s one-stop-shop for motorsport racewear and high-quality safety equipment. Custom motorsport suits, standard suits, top helmet brands, racing boots, racing gloves and much more! Just quote your membership number when visiting the shop to obtain your discount. www.rennatracewear.co.uk
EcoRally Scotland to return in 2026
Following the successful inaugural Championship event held in July and won by reigning Bridgestone FIA ecoRally Cup Champions, Michal Žďárský and Jakub Nábělek who travelled to Scotland from the Czech Republic, the FIA have confirmed that EcoRally Scotland will return to the global Championship calendar on 1st & 2nd August 2026 and will be again be hosted in the City of Dundee, the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design. Announcing the date during the recent SMRC Awards Ceremony, Motorsport UK Technical Director Ian Smith praised the SMRC for having the vision and determination to develop the event, which concluded 3 years of work to bring FIA Championship competition back to Scotland for the first time in 14 years. Details of the 2026 event can be found on the dedicated website www.ecorally.scot
CHASE Equipment Historic Modsports & Special Saloons Series
A new addition to the SMRC’s racing portfolio for 2026, we are delighted to be appointed as the Organising Club for the CHASE Equipment Historic Modsports & Special Saloons Series. Originally created in 2022 by Promotor Steve Watton, the Series is designed to celebrate the rich heritage of the genre from the late 60’s through to the end of the 1970’s. The series retains, to a very large extent, those regulations from the Blue Books of the 1970’s and our quest is to try and remain as faithful as we can to the specifications developed during that period. Further information is available on the Series dedicated website
www.historicmodsportsandspecialsaloons.co.uk
2026 Calendar
Our 2026 racing schedule includes a diverse range of venues bespoke to each of the Club’s four Championships together with the Historic Modsports & Special Saloons Series plus an increased number of ‘away rounds’ and live streaming. Click here for full details of the 2026 schedule; https://www.smrc.co.uk/news/2026-calendar-announcement/
The 2026 Championship Regulations are currently with Motorsport UK for review as part of the Championship Permit application process, but the draft copies as submitted are available on the website Championship pages (https://www.smrc.co.uk/championships/). Championship Registration will open in the new year once the Championship permits have been issued.
Competition Director’s Notes & Membership Renewals
The SMRC has evolved significantly over the last 5 years. In 2019 and during prior seasons the Club organised 6 race meetings at Knockhill, all of which featured the Club’s full portfolio of championships, plus the occasional ‘away round’ where our Championships featured at events organised by other clubs. Feedback from our racing members now suggests differing requirements across our individual championships, with some preferring a greater variety of away rounds and live streaming, whilst others prefer to keep costs contained with a traditional Knockhill based calendar. Responding to this feedback, next year sees the most diverse SMRC calendar ever produced, with our Championships featuring at a total of 16 different race meetings, across 8 different circuits, organised by 6 different race organising clubs. New for 2026 we are delighted to have added the Historic Modsports & Special Saloons Series to the Club’s stable following an approach by the Series’ Owner and Promoter Steve Watton. This will be the first time that the Club has organised a race series on behalf of a third party Promoter, our existing Championships of course being owned and promoted by the Club itself for our members. It is testament to the organisational expertise of the SMRC that a third-party Promoter has chosen the Club to organise their primarily English based Series. Add to this the SMRC being retained by Motorsport UK to assist with the organisation of the UK round of the FIA EcoRally Cup following the Club’s involvement with this years inaugural FIA Championship event, and it is easy to see that the Club is very different now compared with just a few years ago.
All of this has prompted the Directors to review the Club’s financial model, as the previously applied “one size fits all” approach is no longer fit for purpose, with members understandably demanding greater transparency regarding how their hard earned money is spent. For 2026 the Club will be adopting a more structured financial model which will ensure that members only pay for the services that they use. In most cases this will see a reduction in fees whilst those set to benefit from the more expensive live streamed races and events at premium circuits are charged accordingly. Member feedback also suggests that fees charged to guest drivers should be representative of the services received whilst not discouraging drivers from registering for our championships.
For 2026 Racing Membership fees will be rising to £100, the first increase in over 10 years. This is important to ensure that guest drivers including those registered for the third-party promoted Historic Modsports & Special Saloons make a fair contribution to cover the fixed costs of running the Club. Recognising that nobody likes price increases, the Championship Registration fee for our Scottish Classic Sports & Saloon Championship, Scottish Fiesta ST Cup and Scottish C1 Cup will be reduced accordingly, and furthermore will be reduced by £100 to reflect the actual costs associated with operating these Championships. Therefore drivers registering for these Championships will pay £50 less in total than in 2025 after factoring in the increase to the annual membership fee. As previously announced the 2026 Scottish MINI Cooper Cup will be enjoying a varied calendar of circuits, held over 7 weekends, 4 of which will benefit from high quality live streaming. To reflect these costs the Championship Registration fee for the Scottish MINI Cooper Cup will need to increase to £350.
Individual race entry fees will be determined once contracts with the various race organising clubs are concluded but will be kept as low as possible and relative to the cost of the track time scheduled, some tracks being more expensive to operate than others. Drivers registered for the Scottish Championships will continue to receive a discount on entry fees for races held at Knockhill, and this discount will be increased to £50 next year, meaning that anyone entering 3 or more events will be financially better off registering for their chosen Championship.
But what about our non-racing members? Don’t worry, these fees will remain unchanged at £30 for a social membership and £15 for our valued volunteer marshals, which offers excellent value when used in conjunction with the benefits and discounts offered exclusively to SMRC members by our commercial partners (see the latest Member Benefits document available online in the members area of the website). Membership renewals will be available from 1st January 2026 by logging in to the members area https://smrc.co.uk/members. The SMRC membership year runs until 31st December.
Steve Burns, Competitions Director.
Drivers Survey Results
In September we asked all of our Racing Members who were also registered for one of our Championships to complete an online survey. The results of this survey were used primarily to enable the Club Director’s to make informed decisions regarding the 2026 calendar, regulations, costs of competing and filming requirements. An anonymised summary of the results is detailed below;
- 74% of drivers responded
- 86% of the respondents confirmed that they intended to continue to compete in their championship again next year. 12% were unsure and 2% were moving on to other series.
Number of away Rounds
- 82% thought the number of events was about right, with 18% preferring more events.
- 88% of C1 drivers requested an ‘away round’ with 50% preferring at least two.
- 100% of Classic drivers requested at least two ‘away rounds’ with 31% preferring three.
- 100% of Fiesta drivers requested an ‘away round’ with 25% preferring two and 12% preferring three.
- 54% of Mini drivers requested four ‘away rounds’, 27% preferred three, 13% two and 6% one.
Away Round venues
- 80% of Mini & C1 drivers were happy to return Cadwell Park, but only 35% of Classic & Fiesta drivers enjoyed the event.
- 100% of Mini drivers and 85% of Classic drivers were happy to race at Croft, with 75% of Fiesta and C1 drivers wishing to return.
- 73% of Mini drivers, 62% of Classic & C1 drivers and 50% of Fiesta drivers were happy to race at Anglesey.
- 62% of Fiesta drivers, 53% of Mini drivers and 25% of Classic & C1 drivers were happy to race at Kirkistown.
Grid sharing and costs of competing
- 85% of Classic drivers, 75% of Fiesta drivers, 25% of C1 drivers and 6% of Mini drivers would consider sharing the grid with other series.
- 87% of Mini drivers, 62% of Classic drivers and 50% of C1 & Fiesta drivers are happy to pay a higher entry fee to race at more prestigious events / more expensive circuits.
- 47% of drivers are happy to pay a higher entry fee at Knockhill in order to subsidise the more expensive ‘away rounds’.
Composition of events
- 56% prefer a mixture of ‘Clockwise’ and ‘Anti-Clockwise’ events at Knockhill. 36% prefer or only wish to race ‘Clockwise’ and 8% prefer or only wish to race ‘Anti-Clockwise’.
- 44% prefer a mixture of one & two-day events, 29% prefer two-day events only and 27% prefer one-day events only.
- 75% of C1 drivers requested 3 races per event, with the remainder requesting 2 or a mixture of 2 and 3 races.
- 85% of Classic drivers requested 2 races per event, with the remainder requesting a mixture of 2 and 3 races.
- 38% of Fiesta drivers requested 2 races per event, 38% requested a mixture of 2 or 3 races and 24% requested 3 races.
- 87% of Mini drivers requested 3 races per event with the remainder requesting 2 or a mixture of 2 and 3 races.
Championship Points, Filming, Social Activities and other suggestions
- 75% of both C1 & Fiesta drivers thought dropped scores were either a good idea or didn’t mind, 25% thought dropped scores were a bad idea.
- 85% of Classic drivers thought dropped scores were either a good idea or didn’t mind, 15% thought dropped scores were a bad idea.
- 93% of Mini drivers thought dropped scores were either a good idea or didn’t mind, 7% thought dropped scores were a bad idea.
- 63% of respondents enjoy the social aspect of events.
- 87% of both Mini & C1 drivers, but only 38% of both Classic & Fiesta drivers are happy to pay an additional fee for some filming during the year.
- Regarding other suggestions received, there were a few comments from Mini drivers requesting mandating a single gearbox, some Classic drivers asked us to review the class structure and a couple of Fiesta drivers suggested reverse grids. All of these suggestions were passed on to the Championship Co-ordinator and relevant Championship Representatives for further discussion within the relevant drivers groups.
2025 Season Review
Click here to read Kevin Pick’s review of the 2025 season;